HILLSDALE — The Hillsdale school district is believed to be the first in the state to begin using a video-based curriculum aimed at teaching adults and children how to see, report and prevent child abuse.

The program, created by the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center, was provided to the district by the Joan's Joy Foundation, which was formed in memory of a borough girl who was raped and murdered by a neighbor while she was delivering Girl Scout cookies more than 40 years ago.

The program consists of three video tutorials that aim to teach children and adults how to better fight against child abuse. There is also a training website.

One video, the Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse program, is for people that work with children to teach them how to spot the signs of abuse and what to do, according to Rosemarie D’Alessandro, Joan’s mother and president of Joan’s Joy.

The Como Reconocer y Reportar el Abuso Hacia Menores video is for Latino audiences. It contains a lot of the same things as the first video, but also talks about the fear of law enforcement and other barriers.

The last set of videos are for parents and children. One video, Keeping Your Children Safe in the Real and Virtual World, is to educate parents on how to protect their children. The other video, You Are Not Alone, is for young children to help them and their parents be able to talk about personal safety and child abuse, according to Rosemarie D'Alessandro.

According to the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, some of the signs of child abuse are frequent injuries that are either unexplained or inadequately explained, a lack of reaction to pain, passive or emotionless behavior, and a fear of going home or seeing parents.

Hillsdale Superintendent Jeffrey Feifer said the district already has a child safety training program for teachers, but he likes the fact that this program will also include training for children and parents.

“We’re hitting this on all sides," Feifer said.

Feifer said the next step will be for him to share the programs with the rest of the administration team at their next meeting later this month. From there, Feifer said the administration will come up with the best plan to distribute the materials to the district's schools, teachers, parents and students.

The program costs $349 for all three packages, said John D'Alessandro, Joan's brother and vice-president of the Joan’s Joy Foundation. Schools who want to participate can donate at the foundation's website, and the family will provide the materials to the school system.

The D’Alessandros chose this program after a Joan’s Joy representative went to a conference in Dallas in 2015. According to both John and Rosemarie, they loved how comprehensive the program was, and felt that they learned more about the signs, symptoms and prevention of abuse than they already knew.

The D'Alessandros hope that if the program takes off in Hillsdale, other towns will want to join as well.

“We want to help everyone be able to recognize and prevent abuse,” Rosemarie said.

JOAN'S LAW

Although Joan D'Alessandro's killer remains in prison, her family was upset that he was eligible for parole after serving 14 years. He has been denied parole multiple times.

In 1997, the family was able to get Joan’s Law passed. Joan’s Law denies parole to anyone serving a life sentence for molesting and murdering a child under 14.

The family is now pushing for legislation that would increase the age limit of the victim to 18.

“I don’t want any young child to be victimized without justice,” Rosemarie D'Alessandro said.